NetOp Remote Control 12.72 review

SMBs that want the best of both worlds from a remote support solution will find NetOp Remote Control delivers on all counts. Its cloud portal lets you control hosts from anywhere over the internet while the NetOp Guest console adds on-premises support services and extra features such as system inventory.

Either way, you'll need the host component installed on each workstation which can be downloaded from the NetOp portal. Enrolment packages streamline the process as these include unique signatures and link the host directly to your web portal account.

Packages are created in the portal and include a name, the period they are valid for and the number of times they can be used. You can also use packages to place hosts in specific portal groups once they've enrolled.

We loaded the default package on multiple Windows 10 hosts which connected to our portal account as soon as the install had finished. Each one appeared in the portal as a new device along with quick access menu options for remote control, file transfer, remote management, chat and a browser-based support console.

Installing the host on our MacBooks running macOS High Sierra was time-consuming, as the DMG package must be downloaded from the NetOp support site. After installing it, we then had to manually configure the host program settings with our portal account details -- a tedious process for sites with a large base of Mac users.

Businesses with large support teams will like the portal's access security as you can assign roles to new users to control what they can do on a host. Options include permissions for full access, view only, keyboard and mouse controls, file transfer and chat.

Clicking the Browser Based Support Console option next to a device starts a remote session over HTTPS. This provides simple remote control plus options to lock, restart or shut down the host.

The new remote control, file transfer, remote management and chat menu options in the portal are designed to work on a host system running the NetOp Guest app. These have been added to give technicians access to wider range of tools than those offered by the portal's browser console.

The Guest can be downloaded from the portal, where we installed it in 3 minutes on a Windows Server 2016 system. You can use it independently of the portal and create a communication profile to log into your cloud account, pick a host from the Quick Connect pane and use the right-click menu to access a wider range of support tools.

Selecting any of the four new features in the portal loads the Guest console and automatically runs the selected task. The Guest's remote control app is vastly superior to the browser version and provides quick access to many more functions including text and audio chat, remotely running programs and accessing the host's Windows Management console.

Using the Guest for on-premises access just requires a profile created for TCP/IP connections and browsing the network displays hosts with this access method enabled. Connection times can be speeded up with the Guest phonebook which stores host details on authentication, encryption and compression.

Host hardware and software inventory can be viewed from the Guest console and we found NetOp to be very accurate. It correctly identified hardware such as CPUs, memory and hard disks, got all the host OS versions right and provided a complete list of software applications.

Mac deployment could be smoother but there's no denying NetOp Remote Control delivers a versatile mix of cloud and on-premises remote support services. It offers great access security and NetOp's new subscription-based pricing makes it even more affordable.

Verdict

Mac deployment could be smoother but there’s no denying NetOp Remote Control delivers a versatile mix of cloud and on-premises remote support services. It offers great access security and NetOp’s new subscription-based pricing makes it even more affordable.